Contents - ResearchSpace@Auckland - The University of Auckland

was later convinced, by Coleridge, to accept a ‘transcendental’ appreciation of imagination’s powers.The meaning of the term ‘Imagination’ in The Prelude remains confused because of an apparent lackof clarification of terms or concepts, and also because of differences between the 1805 and 1850 textsof the poem. But what can be stated, with certainty, is that Coleridge was committed to believing in‘The Imagination’ as a transcendental power of the mind, and he also thought that Wordsworth’s bestpoetry was the product of such inspiration. And in responding, positively, to Coleridge’s remarks inBiographia, a number of later critics also accepted this to be Wordsworth’s meaning. The situation isfurther complicated because the later alterations to the 1805 text, influenced by Wordsworth’s lateracceptance of Christianity, allow for the possibility of reading the word ‘Imagination’ as signifying aGod-given transcendental power of the mind. But if, as I argue here, Wordsworth was committed toAristotelian and Stoic principles in 1805, it was impossible for him to represent Imagination in such amanner, since both philosophical systems rejected such a belief. In the following chapter I presentsomething of a reception history of The Prelude, and discuss the work of some of the criticsmentioned here in more detail. But first I present a reading of the last book of The Prelude thatpresents an alternative appreciation of imagination to the one largely accepted as canonical.II. Sublime Imaginations and Beautiful FanciesIn the final Book of The Prelude Wordsworth clarifies his understanding of the term‘Imagination’ as he sums his argument. The work concludes in a carefully structured peroration thatcontains all the elements expected in the concluding section of such an epic Address. The peroration isexpected to recapitulate the main argument, and to do so in a forceful manner, using impressive andeloquent language in a grand style. It is also the place to appeal to the more tender feelings of theaudience in a final act of persuasion, and the place to acknowledge those to whom thanks are due. Thebook opens, appropriately, with a vivid set-piece of description portraying a ‘sublime’ experience thatoccurs on the summit of the highest mountain in England and Wales. 10The opening lines describe the circumstances of Wordsworth’s early morning ascent, whichwas begun in the dark with the intention of observing the sunrise from the summit. In the earlierstages of his assault on the mountain he describes himself ‘Hemmed round on every side with fog anddamp’ seeing little as, ‘With forehead bent /Earthward, as if in opposition set / Against an enemy’ he‘panted up the mountain / With eager pace’ (XIII 29-32). As he climbs he describes himself engrossedin private musings until, suddenly:a light upon the turfFell like a flash: I looked about and, lo!The Moon stood naked in the heavens, at heightImmense above my head, and on the shoreI found myself of a huge sea of mist10 The location was also the setting for Gray’s Pindaric Ode, ‘The Bard’, and the region around Snowden wasalso associated with the Druids. Wordsworth’s imagery also draws on other works, including Beattie’s TheMinstrel, and Thomas Pennant’s description of his Snowden experiences in A Tour in Wales.118